Fashion label American Eagle’s latest jeans campaign, which featured Sydney Sweeney, did not affect the Hollywood actress in any way despite the controversy it courted for allegedly advocating white supremacy, Sweeney said in a recent interview.

Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign featured the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” a pun around “great genes”.

This drew severe backlash with many claiming that the advertisement was racist as it glorified the Euphoria star’s white heritage. The Emmy-nominated actress said she did not put out a formal statement explaining her side of things in August, when the campaign drew flak, as she knows herself best.

“I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think...I know who I am. I know what I value. I know that I’m a kind person,” Sweeney said in an interview with GQ magazine.

“I know that I love a lot, and I know that I’m just excited to see what happens next. And so I don’t really let other people define who I am,” she added.

Speaking about the campaign and the subsequent backlash, Sweeney said, “I did a jeans ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life… I knew at the end of the day what that ad was for, and it was great jeans, it didn’t affect me one way or the other,” she said.

The controversy surrounding the advertisement escalated to the level where American president Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance had to weigh in, expressing their support for the actress and the campaign. Sweeney called that moment “surreal”.

Sweeney, 28, is set to appear in the third and final season of HBO’s Euphoria. She has the psychological thriller The Housemaid in the pipeline. Additionally, the actress will headline the biographical sports drama Christy.